Supporters were vexed recently when chairman John McClelland was saying one thing and manager Alex McLeish another. The former claimed that Bosman signings on high wages would turn the club round, while the latter argued a significant outlay on transfer fees was required.

Yesterday, though, McLeish managed to contradict himself. Looking pale and drawn as he entered the media room at Murray Park, the 45-year-old initially claimed it would be nice to be given the chance to rebuild the side, then said we should not read anything into that ambiguous statement.

McLeish said he was aware of the size of his war chest, only to deny any such knowledge minutes later. In fact, both assertions may be true, which would give more cause for concern to fans who already sense a seismic shift in the balance of power.

Rangers' decline has been thrown into sharp relief by Celtic's success and their rivals' victory over Barcelona on Thursday plunged them into deeper depression.

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Sixteen points adrift in a title race which Celtic have turned into a procession, no one present yesterday would have been surprised had Corporal Jones had appeared alongside McLeish to ask: "Permission to stop panicking, Captain Mainwaring!"

In a week where McLeish informed Nuno Capucho, Emerson and Christian Nerlinger they will no longer feature in his plans and reports from Spain suggested that playmaker Mikel Arteta no longer wants to, the manager had the air of a man who had been caught by a speed camera while on his way to pay his council tax.

"Mikel hasn't said to me that he's keen on moving back to Spain," he said. "I only want players who are committed to this club but I also won't sell them unless it's right for us. I'm not in a position to discuss sales or guarantee that there won't be any. You can't rule out anything."

It was pointed out he had overcome adversity in previous jobs at Hibernian and Motherwell but he conceded that re-invigorating this ragged Rangers side represents his biggest challenge.

"I was working with limited cash there and it's certainly been that way here for the past couple of years," he admitted. "It would be nice to get a crack at rebuilding. I know exactly what the parameters I'll be working in budget-wise and how to generate money. It's a challenge I relish."

However, when asked if his budget could accommodate the expectations of fans whose season-ticket prices - unlike wages, transfer fees and squad numbers - have not been downsized, McLeish said: "It will be difficult to do that with no transfer funding at all but we need to be prudent in order to rebuild and I'll need to wait until I know what my budget is."